How to Bomb Impact Launch - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Guide - IGN (2024)

In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Link is able to use his remote bombs to catapult himself across the map. In BotW, a Bomb Impact Launch – or Windbomb as it’s also known - is done by dropping your remote bombs behind you, one after the other while in bullet-time, then detonating the first to catapult the second directly into Link, rocketing him away at speed. Wind bombing can be done anywhere that you can enter slow-mo by tapping ZR, which means you can use ledges, tree stumps, Cryonis blocks and more. You can even Bomb Impact Launch off cliffs or trees.

How to Wind Bomb in BotW

The video below goes through everything in detail, so we’d recommend watching that to see each technique in action. If you’d prefer to read how to do it, we’ll run through a few different techniques underneath.

Things You Need to Know Before Getting Started

Before we go through the techniques, here are some things you need to know to launch more consistently (and big thanks to Limcube and Linkus7 for pointing out some of these in their videos):

• If you’re launching from the ground you need a definitive drop in front of you. This is because Link needs to go into bullet time when you jump off, but if you’re on, say, the slope of a hill, it may not work. Starting out, look for ledges with big drops – on top of the towers, on the wall of the Great Plateau, etc. Later on you can try launching off tree stumps and the like.
• You should try and face one of the cardinal directions – north, south, east or west. This is because the cube bomb (which is the one that slams into Link) always drops orientated to these directions, regardless of which way Link is facing. The bomb will hit him more cleanly if its side slams into him. (You can see this in the image further down.) You can find a cardinal direction by looking at your mini-map while aiming with R. Just be sure to sheath your weapon to avoid throwing it. You may also want to change the setting so that North is always up on the mini-map.
• If a cardinal direction is way off where you want to go, try aiming in an ordinal direction - north-east, north-west, south-east, south-west, as then one of the cube’s corners will slam into Link. The main thing is to avoid a glancing blow by facing anywhere else. It CAN still work, no matter which direction you’re facing, but will be less consistent.
• Lag is something to be aware of – if there’s too much going on on-screen, you can get the Bomb Impact Launch right and start being shot forward, only for it to be interrupted, stopping you dead in mid-air, and resulting in you dropping to the ground. This is called a lag-stop, and some areas are much worse than others. The Korok Forest, for instance, is famously laggy. Anywhere with a lot of water, malice or trees can also be more problematic than other locations. It doesn’t mean it can’t be done, just that it will be less consistent for you. Potential lag can be minimised by looking down at the ground or up at the sky while launching, or by launching off a wall, as that already covers a lot of the screen.
• When entering bullet time for a bomb impact launch, you should only TAP ZR. If you press it and Link fires an arrow, your launch is much less likely to work. Train yourself to only tap ZR.
• Bear in mind that you’re not actually blowing up the cube bomb – you’re using the explosion from the spherical cube bomb to send it flying into Link. What this means is if you try and do another Bomb Impact Launch too close to the last one, you may simply detonate the old cube bomb instead of dropping a new one. You can check by switching to the cube bomb and seeing if there’s a detonate option before attempting another launch.

Technique 1: Ledge Bombing

Find a spot with a definitive drop, ideally facing an cardinal direction. Equip the spherical remote bomb selected and a bow, then save the game so you can reload from this point to practice. Get into position on the edge, hold down ZL and keep it held down – you’ll only release it once you’re in slow mo - then get the exact direction with R.

Jump forward and immediately press L to drop the spherical bomb at Link’s feet, then quickly tap ZR to draw your bow and enter slow-mo. You should then immediately press and hold up on the D-pad so you can select the cube bomb, then release up and press L to drop it, then immediately press up again, go back to the spherical bomb and detonate it straight away with L.

What I like about this technique is it’s really about the rhythm of that initial jump. If you get that jump-drop bomb-bullet time sequence right, then there’s no other timing required as you’re dropping the second bomb straight away then detonating the first straight away too.

There are other ways to time your button presses to do successful ledge bombs. For instance, you can jump forward then press L and ZR simultaneously. This sounds easier – and it is – but is ultimately less effective. It also uses up a lot more stamina. If you do it this way the bomb winds up being higher behind Link - as opposed to below his feet - and you need to wait before dropping the cube to space them out. Around a third of one ring of Link’s stamina wheel is pretty good. You then need to the bombs to line up with Link’s back, which means you may want to pan to the side to get that right. It can work just fine, and can also result in a good amount of speed, but the other method is much more cut and dry.

Technique 2: Wall Bombing

Position yourself on a wall, again with the spherical remote bomb selected and a bow equipped, then move the left stick down (as if you’re climbing down) and press jump – Link will leap out, away from the wall. As soon as you jump, press L to drop the first bomb, then immediately tap ZR to enter bullet time and hold up on the D-pad. Switch to the cube bomb and drop it immediately by releasing up and tapping L, then hold up again to switch back to the spherical bomb and immediately detonate it. If the timing works Link will look like he’s been shot out of a cannon.

This method is like the ledge launch in the sense that it’s all about the initial timing of the button presses as you jump, and if you get that right you don’t need to check the angles of the bombs or delay subsequent inputs. You’ll know you’re in a good rhythm if you’re dropping the spherical bomb so that it’s basically against the wall where Link’s feet were when you jumped off it.

There are other ways to do this launch. If you’re more interested in shooting Link away at speed, for instance, you can try jumping away from the wall and tapping the ZR to enter bullet time first, then dropping the spherical bomb. Turn the camera to the side and wait for a second or two before dropping the cube, then wait for them to line up with Link’s back before triggering the spherical bomb.

The timing window on wall bombs can be quite generous, too. The main thing is to practice, and you’ll find a rhythm that works for you.

Technique 3: Air Bombing

Bomb Impact Launches can also be executed in the air. In fact, with enough stamina you can chain together as many as you like. We’re going to go over two methods here – one to get height and one to get forward momentum. For both it’s best for Link to be moving at his normal paragliding speed, so if you’re paragliding after a Bomb Impact Launch you need to wait until you return to regular speed, or you can reset by retracting then re-deploying your paraglider, or by aiming with your bow… which also lets you find a cardinal direction. Either way, you’re now ready to windbomb from the air.

For the first method, you’ll keep the camera behind Link. Like so many of these, it’s all about feeling out the timing, but the basic idea is you stop pushing forward on the left analogue stick, then drop the bomb a beat later as Link’s momentum drops. Watch closely and you can see how Link’s legs move forward when you let go of the analogue stick. Let go, wait half a second, then drop the spherical bomb as his legs move forward. You then want to wait a beat AGAIN before triggering bullet-time – the spherical bomb should be JUST off the bottom of the screen, but you can still see its trail. Immediately press up on the D-pad and switch to the cube bomb, release and deploy it then detonate the first. Get it right and the bombs will be steeply angled up towards Link and you should get a whole lot of height.

It takes some time to get the rhythm of this one, but like other techniques, there’s some room to move. If you enter bullet time too soon, so the spherical bomb is still on screen, you can move the camera to side-on when you drop the next bomb then line them up before the detonation. If you enter bullet time too late, on the other hand, well, you should just try again.

The second method is great when you want to cover a lot of ground. For this one I move the camera so it’s side-on. Again, you want to be going at Link’s standard paragliding speed. This time, however, you should continue holding the left analogue stick in the direction you’re traveling and drop the spherical bomb and immediately tap ZR to enter bullet-time. The sooner you enter bullet time after dropping the bomb the better, as you’re still gliding forwards, so even doing it immediately, the bomb will still be at least a couple of in-game metres behind you. As a guide, it should still be comfortably on screen but a lot closer to the edge of the screen than it is to Link.

Press up on the D-pad as soon as you enter bullet time and switch to the cube bomb and drop it. DON’T detonate it straight away. You need to watch the relative positions of the bombs. Most of the time, the spherical bomb will slowly drop as the cube appears to rise. When there’s a straight line from the sphere to the cube to the small of Link’s back, detonate the spherical bomb, and away you go.

For both of these, don’t forget to try and stick to the cardinal directions for the most reliable launches, and stock up on stamina overloading food to ensure you can stay airborne for as long as you want.